A/N: I think I've got these two chapters uploaded now. I'm sorry for the issues, I don't know why it happened. Hopefully it's fixed now. Thank you for being patient. :D

Chapter 31

Being back in the house in Scotland was brilliant. Those who had been there before were delighted to be there again and those who hadn't thought it was amazing. The kids ran around both inside and outside excitedly, Mary thought the views were spectacular and Luke, who was only two years old, was calmer than he'd been over the past two full days of travelling. They'd bought the photo album with them to recreate some of the pictures from last time and it was out on the coffee table for people to look through whenever they wanted.

The first thing they did was make a quick meal plan for the first couple of days and make a list of everything they'd need. Then they all headed to the nearby village, ate lunch together outside a pub and then sent some of them to the shops to get the food. After that, hours were spent unpacking and making everyone feel at home until Leon and Mary began to cook dinner. Merlin had gone out for a walk with Gwaine to pass some time and get some fresh air in the hopes that it would calm him. He'd come back feeling a bit better but still there was this horrible feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach.

They'd mostly all taken the bedrooms which they'd had the last time they'd been but with Elyan and Mary in the other room downstairs and the four children in a the only remaining room upstairs where Elyan had been last time. Naturally the next morning was filled with grumbles about just how many times someone had been in to tell them to be quiet and go to sleep. Only the four downstairs had slept well.

"Never have kids," Lancelot grumbled as he stumbled down the stairs the second morning and sat on the sofa with Merlin and Arthur.

"Cause havoc again?" Arthur asked.

Lancelot nodded tiredly, "We're not letting them have a nap this afternoon so they'll be tired before bed. They chatted for hours."

"Chatted?" Morgana said as she stumbled down too, "More like shouted. I'm surprised you two didn't hear them."

"With everything we've been through," Arthur said, "We've learned to sleep when we can. And when we can, we sleep like the dead."

"Can we switch rooms then?" Lancelot asked.

"Your kids, your problem," Arthur said easily.

"That's not fair."

"Really?" Arthur grinned, "Well, I'm going in the hot tub. Anyone joining?"

Lancelot nodded, "I'm in need of relaxation right now."

"Me too," Morgana agreed.

"Merls?" Arthur forced the book in Merlin's hands closed, keeping his finger between the pages so Merlin wouldn't lose his place.

"Hm?"

"Hot tub?"

Merlin shook his head adamantly, "No."

Arthur frowned at the almost scared look on his husband's face, "Ok. Do you want anything else?"

"I'm ok."

"Alright."

Arthur, Morgana and Lancelot disappeared to their rooms to get changed and grab a towel. Since their last visit, what was definitely the biggest hot tub anyone had ever seen had been installed by the house. It was at least three or four times the size of a normal one and the adults were all looking forward to a couple of late nights together there with some wine.

"Why isn't Merlin up for it?" Lancelot asked when the three were in.

Arthur shrugged, "Maybe he just doesn't fancy it."

"It looked like something more," Morgana noted.

"Yeah," Arthur mused, "I don't know. I'll ask him later."

Merlin was still reading when they got back in with Leon who had joined them half-way through. He was sitting with Gwaine, Gwen and Mary but wasn't involved in their conversation.

Arthur snatched the book away from him, "We're here to see our friends and be sociable," he scolded jokingly, "Not read by ourselves and ignore everyone."

Merlin pouted and gave Arthur puppy-eyes which were better than Eira's, "Let me finish the chapter?"

Arthur flicked through to see how far away that was, "Fine."

"None of the kids up yet?" Morgana asked.

"Eira's in our room with Percy," Gwaine said, "But I haven't seen anyone else."

"Right, well, I need to get Luke up anyway," Morgana said, "So I'll wake yours up too," she smiled at Gwen.

"I'll help you get them dressed," Gwen said.

"I'm going for a shower," Lancelot announced.

"Me too," Leon said.

"I shall get started on some breakfast then," Arthur offered, "But if you want anything special, you make it yourself."

Merlin looked up, "You can't tell me I'm not allowed to read because I should be speaking to people and then all disappear when I'm going to talk to you!"

"Come and help me make breakfast," Arthur said, "I'll talk to you."

"I always talk to you."

"Good job I'm not boring, then. Come on."

Merlin sat at the counter on one of the stools while everyone else went to get dressed or washed. Arthur took the opportunity to ask Merlin about what had happened earlier.

"Why don't you want to go in the hot tub? You're not scared of water, are you?"

"No," Merlin said.

"Well what was it that scared you? You looked terrified."

"It's not about me being scared."

Arthur glanced over at him, "What do you mean?"

"The kids," Merlin said as if that explained everything.

Arthur shook his head slowly and turned away from the food he was preparing completely, "I don't get it."

"My scars, Arthur. All over my chest. The kids don't need to see that."

"You think they'd be scared of you?"

"Not necessarily. But it's not normal."

"They don't expect 'normal'. They know what you've been through, they know you only have one leg, they can see the scars on your face. They don't care! Why would they care? They think you're a superhero, remember? Why is it that you seem to want these kids to be taught to accept everyone except you?"

"Of course I want them to accept me. But I don't want to see the looks on their faces when they see what I look like."

"They worship you, Merls. Adore everything about you. They're not going to care about a few little cuts on your chest."

"It's not nice to look at, Arthur. The kids don't need that here."

"Merls-"

"No, Arthur. Not even all our friends have seen. It's going to be difficult enough showing them or Mary. I can't face all of it all at once."

"Ok," Arthur gave in, "If you're not comfortable with it. I'm sorry."

There were a lot of tired faces at breakfast. The adults were being very good at pretending they weren't exhausted but the children moaned and groaned through their food and glowered at their parents. In the afternoon, they went out for a short walk all together, letting the kids run around with the dogs to wear them all out. Then, when they got home, they got the boardgames out and refused to let the children nap. The only exception was Luke because he was still really young and never responsible for any of the noise at night. He was only kept up by the other three.

That night was a lot better. They all went to bed early so woke up earlier but a few of them were planning to go out for a quick, morning stroll anyway so that worked out well. Morgana, who was going, had offered to take the dogs for Arthur and Merlin who weren't. That meant they could have a lie in. Or at least try to. With the hubbub going on downstairs, they didn't sleep for long but they stubbornly stayed in bed together cuddling.

"Shall we have a bath?" Arthur suggested after listening to Belle and William sing 'Incy-Wincy Spider' for the hundredth time next door, "It'll be quieter in the bathroom with the door shut.

Merlin nodded without moving his head from the crook of Arthur's neck. Neither of them moved for another few minutes, though, until Merlin sat up, pulled the covers back and got up. He hopped around the bed and pulled at Arthur's arm. They washed together and got up for a quick breakfast. Everyone was going to a nearby lake for a picnic lunch and a swim, They'd found it last time and the waters had been so perfectly fresh and clear that they hadn't been able to resist a splash around.

Everyone helped prepare the lunch and split it into different bags so no one was carrying too much. They were bringing Merlin's wheelchair because Arthur was slightly concerned about it being a bit too long of a walk.

"It's really pretty!" Belle cried when she saw it. She was walking beside Merlin but obviously couldn't hold his hand because he was using his crutches. Instead, she had her hand wrapped around the crutch loosely so she wouldn't restrict his use of it.

They all had swimming costumes on underneath their clothes so once they'd eaten a bit, those who wanted to go for a swim got ready to.

"Coming, Merlin?" Lancelot asked.

"No, thanks," Merlin smiled, "I'll stay."

Lancelot raised an eyebrow but shrugged and followed the others into the water. There was a bit of general squealing at the cool temperature and then laughter as they got used to it.

"Did you forget your trunks or something?" Morgana asked as she helped Luke to eat a strawberry. They'd stayed on the grass but Leon promised he'd switch with Morgana at some point.

"Just not feeling up to it," Merlin said.

"Here I thought squids loved water," Morgana teased.

Merlin smiled.

"You don't have to take your shirt off, you know," she said.

"What? How did you-"

"I'm not stupid, Merlin. You've worn nothing but joggers and long-sleeved shirts since we got here, you've not been in the hot tub once and you constantly have your arms crossed across your chest. You're self-conscious."

Merlin nodded, "Yes."

"No one can make you comfortable if you're really not," Morgana said, "But I can see you're dying to go in the water. Keep your shirt on, if you want. Arthur brought a spare."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I told him to. We all want you to have fun so we don't care what we have to do to make that happen. You could swim in a full tuxedo if it made you feel better. Just put your shorts on and get in. Your shirt's white, it'll stick to you and make you look sexy."

Merlin laughed, "I haven't quite got my abs back yet. It'll be my ribs poking through not my muscles."

"Somehow I don't think Arthur will care."

Merlin smiled half-heartedly.

"Do you want to?" Morgana asked somehow managing to keep any pressure from her voice.

Merlin thought about it for a second and then nodded slowly. Making sure Luke was completely preoccupied with whatever toy he was holding, Morgana helped Merlin into a pair of shorts and then shouted Arthur over. Her brother was out of the water and next to them in no time.

"I want to go swimming," Merlin said sheepishly.

Arthur grinned, "Come on, then."

Merlin put one arm over Arthur's shoulders while Arthur put his arm around Merlin's waist. He hopped over to the water's edge with Arthur's help and they waded over to where everyone else was. Obviously it wasn't too deep because Belle couldn't swim and they didn't want to leave her out. But that meant Arthur had to stay close to Merlin to keep him upright. If they'd been deeper in the water, Merlin would have been able to swim around on his own.

In a way that was sort of fortunate, Belle got bored quite quickly and decided she'd much rather play with Aithusa on the shore. Merlin was delighted to be able to have completely mobility without the support of anything else. No Arthur, no crutches, no wheelchair. He loved the freedom that the lake was giving him.

It was worth having to go in the wheelchair on the way home. His arms were too tired to be able to take his weight on his crutches. He'd also had a little bit of trouble with changing from the wet shirt into the dry one which Arthur had packed. It wasn't as easy as just turning his back because his back was scarred too. But when it all came down to it, everyone had had a brilliant time.

"There's rain forecast for later today," Leon said as they were eating breakfast the next day, "Shall we try and get out before then?"

Everyone nodded eagerly and headed off after eating to wrap up warmly, just in case they got caught out in it which inevitably, knowing them, would happen.

So when they did, in fact, get stuck in a downpour of icy rain, all laughing at each other as they got slowly drenched. On the back of the wheelchair, they had a bag always filled essentials and Arthur had forced the blanket out of it to cover Merlin with. It hadn't done much because it had only got drenched as well and was now draped heavily over his legs and making him uncomfortable.

They'd actually driven to where they'd decided to go for their walk so getting back to the cars was a blessing. They had the heating on as high as it would go and jumpers and dry socks out of the boot to change into. Elyan and Mary offered to pick dinner up on the way home because they didn't have anyone in their car that needed warming up as a matter of urgency. Merlin was already starting to cough a bit amongst his shivers and the children were starting to get irritable and cold.

"Why was that the highlight of the week so far?" Arthur asked Gwaine with a grin as he walked into the kitchen after getting himself, Merlin and the dogs dried off and changed.

"It was fun," Gwaine admitted.

"You had hair plastered to your face like it was glued there," Lancelot chuckled from where he was sitting at the table with Will. There were drenched items of clothing strewn all over the house to dry off. "Where's Merlin?"

"Asleep," Arthur said as he put the kettle on, "He's alright."

"Do you know what's been bugging him?"

"No," Arthur sighed, "I don't think he does either but he says he's better now he's here."

"That's good," Lancelot turned the book of the page Will was reading for him.

"Walks in the rain are brilliant when you can go home and cuddle up afterwards," Gwen said happily as she came downstairs, "Is anyone making coffee?"

The rest of that day was spent lazing around if loungewear, watching films and dipping hot drinks. Arthur, Leon and Percival even spent a bit of time in the hot tub but their heads and shoulders which weren't in the tub ended up more wet than their legs and torsos which were. So, feeling a little light headed from the temperature difference, they stumbled back inside and collapsed onto the sofa with everyone else.

"We got out way too fast," Leon laughed, blinking away some black spots from his eyes.

Percival sunk down into the cushions and took a few deep breaths, "I feel a little bit sick."

"You're all idiots," Morgana said.

"I go in the hot tub in the rain all the time," Arthur said, "I never get this light-headed."

"It's freezing outside, boiling in the hot tub and warm in here," Gwen said, "You went from super hot to frozen to kind of normal again in the space of two seconds. What were you expecting?"

"You all look drunk," Gwaine noted as he came downstairs to join the others, "Didn't get sloshed without me, did you?"

Arthur groaned and forced himself to his feet, bracing himself against the headrush that followed, "I need to check on Merlin. He's been asleep for hours."

He stumbled into their room, and got Merlin up so everyone could eat dinner together.